Dec 29, 2007

Pakistan after Bhutto

Juan Cole has a summary post of the fallout:
Here is a tally of violence in the major port city of Karachi (population 8 million) overnight,(Thursday, Dec 27) resulting from riots to protest the killing of Benazir Bhutto:

Number of vehicles burned: 150
Number of streets where tires were set afire: 26
Number of banks set on fire: 16
Number of gas stations torched: 13
Number of persons shot dead: 10
Number of persons injured: 68
Number of PIA flights coming in: 0
Number of shops and businesses closed: Most



Labour Party Pakistan mourns Benazir’s tragic death.It's a murder of democracy. Musharraf should resign .A tragedy wrought by combination of dictatorship, fundamentalism, imperialism

Lahore (PR): The Labour Party Pakistan (LPP) strongly condemns the tragic murder of Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister and chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

In a joint statement issued here on Friday, LPP spokesperson Farooq Tariq and National Secretary Nisar Shah said: ‘ It is not mere a murder of an individual but murder of democracy and political culture in Pakistan’. They said it was the duty of the regime to provide Benazir Bhutto with a fool-proof security. ‘This is a failure on the part of the regime hence exposing country to an unprecedented danger and chaos. Therefore, we demand an immediate resignation of Pervez Musharraf and his cabinet,’ they added.

They said the tragedy that struck Pakistan yesterday was yet another expression of the instability created in the region owing to the US presence in the region. ‘Her brutal murder is a tragedy jointly wrought by religious fundamentalists, military dictatorships in Pakistan and the USA’, they commented. They said Al-Qaida had taken upon itself the responsibility for this horrendous crime according to media reports. ‘But the Frankenstein of Al-Qaida would not have been ruling the roost in Pakistan had it not been created by the USA and pampered by military dictatorships in Pakistan’, they said.

Urging the PPP workers restraint, they said LPP workers were with them in that hour of grief. ‘We must turn this anger on the culprits who plotted this dastardly murder'’, they said. They appreciated Pakistan Muslim League (N)’s decision to boycott the elections due on January 8 and APDM decision to suspend the campaign recently launched for the boycott of elections.